Republicans

The spending cut agreement reached last weekend begins to reverse the “stimulus” spending binge that began in 2009 – marking the official end of a period of unprecedented government intervention that economists say was threatening job creation. The Los Angeles Times reported that “[t]he largest domestic spending cut in U.S. history will upend almost every federal agency and slash programs dealing with healthcare, transportation and education,” including “four of the president's policy czars.”

“President Obama will give up four of his famous White House ‘czars’ under the spending deal he cut with Congress Friday night. The bill prohibits the White House from spending money on the policy ‘czars’ for health care, climate change, the auto industry, and urban affairs. Obama has used the positions to appoint top advisers without putting them through the Senate confirmation process, and that, in turn, has angered Republicans who want high-ranking public officials to be vetted by Congress.”

As Investor’s Business Daily noted in an editorial today: “a cut is a cut and, thanks largely to the Tea Party and the GOP renaissance it helped spawn, the debate has shifted from whether to cut to how much to cut and when....This is only a skirmish. The battle over the debt ceiling and Paul Ryan's plan is next...This is a war that will not be won in a single battle. This is the Republicans' El Alamein. The confrontation over the debt ceiling and Ryan's plan for balanced budget and economic growth will be their D-Day. Full victory will not be won until a new president and Senate majority are elected.”

In an op-ed for USA Today, Speaker Boehner called the agreement “far from perfect,” but said it is a “first step toward getting spending under control.” House Republicans will move this week from cutting billions of dollars to cutting trillions of dollars, with the House considering the Path to Prosperity later this week.